Cable protecting plates are used to prevent the inadvertent penetration of wires, pipes, and tubing also known as service lines, by fasteners such as nails and screws in construction. These plates have a variety of shapes depending upon the framing function (bearing wall, partition wall, furring wall) and construction material (wood, metal and thin strips for furring). To date none of these plates are particularly well suited for remodeling when the wall covering is already installed and will remain installed everywhere with the exception of the reasonably immediate locale of the actual protecting plate.
Typically, in construction remodeling, service lines are added to a wall or ceiling by removing areas of wallboard, (sometimes known as drywall or plaster), either in long strips or entirely, then drilling holes in the framing members, thereby passing cables through the member and reinstalling wallboard.
When possessing this plate, to add new service lines it is more practical to create a series of small penetrations in the wallboard at each point where the new service lines will intersect an existing framing member in order to gain access to the wall's interior space henceforth called the “void”. The service lines can be installed by bringing them out of the wallboard, crossing them over the framing member and reinserting them back into the void, repeating this “lacing” process as needed. The service lines needing to be protected now rest on top of and intersect the framing member and this new plate will rest on top of the service lines and also intersect the member.
By installing this remodeling cable protecting plate at each point where the penetrations occurred, the service lines will be simultaneously protected from future accidental puncture and securely fastened, both of which are required by universal building codes, and the wall voids created to gain access to the wall interior void will be covered making a suitable backing for a simplified repair of the damaged wallboard using a common wallboard compound.
What makes all of the current cable protecting plates incompatible with the above described remodeling technique is that they are either shaped wrong and/or have features which will damage the wires they are intended to protect. When installing this remodeling cable protecting plate by gently hammering a chisel into the plate's chisel grip combined with its nuanced shape, the plate will position snugly with no risk of damaging the service lines. The two nails when installed have a twofold purpose; 1) they capture the service lines and keep them under the plate and 2) they set the plate to a depth slightly below the surface of the existing wallboard making for a fast and imperceptible repair.